TPC Group sees more BD price hikes, but at a moderate pace – CEO

13 May 2011 16:54[Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--?xml:namespace>US butadiene (BD) prices will continue to rise going forward, but at a more moderate pace after significant price increases in past months, the CEO of US BD producer TPG Group said on Friday.

“The market sentiment seems to be that further price movements may be a bit more moderate,” Michael McDonnell told analysts during TPC's 2011 first-quarter results conference call.

“Overall, we see very strong fundamentals, but maybe a little bit of moderation in the forward trend of BD pricing,” McDonnell said when asked about his expectations for the June BD pricing nomination.

Meanwhile, BD demand will remain strong in the near term, with no signs of “substantive demand destruction” in BD market uses, such as rubber and nylon.

At the same time, light cracking in the USethylene industry, as well as cracker outages, curtail availability of crude C4, the feedstock from which BD is extracted, he said.